D.C. Chronicles Volume 30

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 30

Hello Everyone! October is coming to a close and temperatures are set to start dropping here in Washington over the weekend to near freezing. Halloween decorations are up in full force right now which can only mean one thing – I’m about to complete another trip around the sun. If you had told me at this time last year where I’d be and what I’d be doing in 2020, I would have laughed it off as some sort of science fiction nonsense. But here I am at home in D.C. in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. My travel gear is on mothballs, the company I’ve worked for for much of the last 20 years is gone and I spend my days walking through the woods with a 2 year old. The year has had its highs and lows for sure and some of each have been pretty intense, but I’ve made it to another birthday with my health and my good humor and that’s going to have to be okay under the circumstances. Happy Birthday to me! All I want this year is a quick end to the pandemic, national healing after the election and to be able to get back on the road in early 2021.

In big news, my puzzle came out this week. For those of you who don’t know, I had one of my photos used for a beautiful wooden jigsaw puzzle from the great folks at Wentworth Puzzles in the U.K. I got my sample copy in the mail the other week, and it is a really beautifully made puzzle. There are specially shaped pieces like a wolf and an eagle, and it is so nice to see a well-crafted wooden puzzle when you’re so used to cardboard. It was a great photo (if I do say so myself) made even more beautiful by the artists at Wentworth. The puzzle is available on their site (find it here) in two sizes: 250 pieces ($49.50) and 500 pieces ($97.50) with shipping to the U.S. a flat $16.50. I know they are a bit pricey, but they are truly beautiful and unique and would make great gifts this holiday season.

My adventures with Mason have continued this week. We are starting to focus on toilet training which isn’t the most fun thing in the world but it’s certainly an adventure. We continue to enjoy the Halloween decorations and the leaves coming down in his neighborhood. The falling leaves came up in a discussion at the end of last week when we were discussing the difference between horns and antlers. We spend a lot of time reading books about animals, and to me there’s no reason for him not to learn the difference from the get-go. We’ve been talking about how horns are permanent, like the pine needles we see, while antlers fall off like the leaves are doing right now. Mason continues to learn his letters, and it’s pretty amazing to me that he knows almost all of them at this point. We stop in the woods at the Rosetta Sign (my name for it), and he knows every single letter on it. He always wants to stop and look at street signs and try and decipher them, and really loves reading the letters on my shirt in the morning. I even broke out a Montana Grizzlies shirt this week because we don’t encounter a lot of Zs in our walks. His sentences continue to grow in length and complexity and he even called himself by his name today while we were playing a game which I thought was really cool. I’m also thrilled that he will be going as a Nittany Lion for Halloween this year to support my Penn State football team in their rivalry against Ohio State on Saturday (that’s a joke for you, Kozimor Family, I appreciate you following my blog!). Mason’s mom’s side of the family lives in Ohio, and “Ohio” is his word for the letter “O” after which he always tells me his Nana is in Ohio.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 29

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 29

Hello Everyone! I hope you’ve all had a nice week since last we met. The weather here in D.C. has been spectacular and I’ve enjoyed spending a lot of time outside this week. The fall colors aren’t great here, but the maples in particular have been pretty awesome. My folks and I have continued to try and celebrate life this week while keeping safe and close to home and I even got out for an overnight in my van which was awesome. October has seemed to go even faster than September did and I know that process will continue as the days get shorter. All told it’s been a pretty good week though.

I got a new phone this week, which is always exciting. My iPhone 5s has been slowly dying over the last year or so, and at the end the battery would only last about 20 minutes. I carried around an external battery for the last 6 months which is a pain, but also not a huge deal. I’m not all about the latest gadget, but that phone lasted a solid five years or so and hadn’t been new when I bought it. I’ve gone with the latest iPhone SE which has the newest chip in a reasonably priced phone. I was super happy with Apple’s new phone-to-phone transfer technology which basically migrated everything from my old phone to my new phone (down to the wallpaper) via WiFi. It was amazing and made set-up super easy. So far I’m enjoying the new features and the expanded capacity and capability of my new phone, and while there are a few things my old one could do which this one doesn’t seem to be able to, I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

The news this week is obviously pretty focused on the upcoming election, and I truly hate to see the divisiveness in the country right now. I know it’s been building for quite some time, but it seems too many people are fanning the flames and it’s heartbreaking. I think a lot of it comes from people not traveling enough and experiencing the different parts of the country and spending time with people who are Americans, but Americans different from themselves or their neighbors. I’ve spent almost my entire adult life doing just that, and I’ve found nothing but good people from coast to coast and lakes to gulf. I’ve always said that I think that sitting around a dinner table we’d have more in common than we did different, and with some open-minded conversation we could probably find compromise and common ground. But now more than ever we’re not having that face-to-face discussion, and it’s eating us like a cancer. I know the biggest divide right now seems to be between urban and rural communities and I’ve spent plenty of my life in both and both have enormous benefits and drawbacks. I think city people could use a bit of time in the country or in a small town and country people could use some real time in the city. Texans should go to Seattle and Alaskans should spend some time in L.A. and they all might find that the people there aren’t as unlike them as they think they are. I’ve spent time in my life in truly foreign environments having traveled across many countries all over the world and no matter where I’ve been I’ve met wonderful people working hard to provide for their families and spend a few minutes with their friends at the end of the day. When I personally can find a huge amount in common with a farmer in rural Cambodia, I know that people from different parts of the same country could find even more if they were focused on our common interests and ideals. We’ve got to stop demonizing each other and spend more time together and we’d all be surprised by what we find. I know that for a fact. Sermon over.

Mason and I continue our adventures around Glover Park and the nearby woods. He is really enjoying all the Halloween decorations, and again seems fearless since he has not been given a reason to be scared of the things we see (and certainly won’t get that from me). He waves to the Wolfman and says “Hi Doggie” and carried on a five minute conversation with a headless skeleton sitting in the bus stop. We’ve got a hill that we love to run down together, holding hands because sometimes he makes a misstep and at full speed that could end badly. He loves this hill and laughs so hard and heartily it warms my heart to no end. Remember when the joy of simply running down a hill could bring you that much happiness? It’s wonderful.

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Snapshots: Fall in New Hampshire (Part 2)

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Snapshots: Fall in New Hampshire (Part 2)

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go and spend a week with my brother in southern New Hampshire. We went out to explore some of the most beautiful parts of the area by car, by boat and on foot. The fall colors were just starting to kick into high gear, and some of the scenes we saw were truly spectacular. We saw covered bridges over the Ashuelot River, beautiful rural countryside and charming small towns like Hancock and Harrisville. I took a lot of photos, and this is the second post I’ve published with them to allow you to see the area through my lens. I hope you enjoy these photos from fabulous southern New Hampshire.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 28

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 28

Hello Everyone. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through October. It definitely feels like time is speeding up on me here. I have been enjoying the cooler weather, although it’s almost too cold some mornings when I get up for my walk. The extra hour of daylight will help with that in a couple of weeks though. A couple of months ago I told y’all that one of my photos was going to be featured on a wooden jigsaw puzzle, and my sample copy came in the mail last week. It is really beautiful and very exciting and I will definitely let you know when it’s available for purchase, but that was a nice boost since last week. I also got an email from someone who wants to use a photo in an upcoming book he is working on – it sounds like a small printing on a fairly niche subject, but I’m always excited to see my photos in print. I also got a message this week from someone interested in discussing some other photos, but unfortunately the email address they left was incomplete. I’ve tried to sleuth it out, but haven’t been able to figure it out – if you’re reading this, I’m not ignoring you, please give me another holler. It’s been a pretty good week from that perspective and it’s nice to feel like my work is reaching a wider audience again as it’s been a really quiet summer in that regard.

I got my flu shot today, and I would definitely encourage you all to do the same. I try and get mine every year, but I’m definitely not messing around with it this year. I voted this week too, and I really hope that all of my American readers have a plan to make sure their votes are in and counted. I’ve always been cynical about voting since I know that, as a registered D.C. voter, my vote for president won’t change the outcome and we have no representation in congress so there’s no help there either. Beyond our city council and school board elections, which I probably should pay more attention to, there isn’t much need to vote here. But this year I want to contribute my voice to the popular vote count and hope that one day all our votes will count equally. I’ve always wondered and often commented as to why so many people in this country think their vote should be more important than mine. Personally I would like to see everyone be able to vote, and everyone’s vote to count. The whole thing should be about finding people who represent us well, not about gaming the system. Our entire election process in this country is broken from top to bottom and needs a reboot. That being said, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to vote in this election because this year it seems more important than ever before.

I’ve been keeping busy with 2 year-old Mason this week as well. We continued our adventures in the woods, expanding our territory as always and enjoying the changing of the leaves and the emergence of some new kinds of fall berries. We also got some rain this week, so there were some cool new mushrooms around as well. Mason continues to work on his letters and, as seems normal, associates new letters he learns with words he already knows. I think it’s pretty incredible to watch, and he’s quick to point out the letters he knows on my T-shirt and any signs we may encounter. While obviously I encourage this, it amuses me as well and I can’t help but think he’s calling out battle coordinates in code – “Uncle Mike – Lion, Elephant, Ohio, Apple”. It’s been great to see so many Halloween decorations go up around his neighborhood as well, and these provide us with a great deal of conversation fodder as we wander the streets every day. He tries to feed berries and acorns to the skeletons because apparently they look hungry (can’t argue with that), and carries on endless conversations with the witches, wolfmen, demons, ghosts, vampires and ghouls we encounter. He got his own pumpkins this week as well and is very proud of them and loves showing them to me and admiring the long stems they have. We’ve also started to name some of the places we visit on our walks for easy reference. From the Calvert Cliffs (a series of walls on Calvert Street he likes to walk on) to the Rock Water Bridge where we usually pause to throw acorns and rocks into the creek, we enjoy the variety of scenery the neighborhood and park provides. I think our favorite is the Counting Tree – a log where we sit every day and count rocks and sticks and leave them in cool patterns to see if they’ll still be there when we return. He seems to really look forward to it every day and we always find time for a rest there. We sure do have great adventures together.

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Snapshots: Fall in New Hampshire (Part One)

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Snapshots: Fall in New Hampshire (Part One)

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go and spend a week with my brother in southern New Hampshire. We went out to explore some of the most beautiful parts of the area by car, by boat and on foot. The fall colors were just starting to kick into high gear, and some of the scenes we saw were truly spectacular. We saw covered bridges over the Ashuelot River, lakefront vistas at Lake Winnipesaukee, and charming small towns like Peterborough and Amherst. I took a lot of photos, and this is the first of at least two posts which will allow you to see the area through my lens. I hope you enjoy these photos from fabulous southern New Hampshire.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 27

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 27

Hello Everyone! We’re a week into October and the weather in Washington has been fabulous. The leaves are starting to change and while the days are getting noticeably shorter, they’re still long enough to enjoy some time outside in the evening. It’s probably just about my favorite time of year. It was nice to get away to New Hampshire last week and get away from the news for a while, but it’s almost like they were saving it up while we were gone because this week was a crazy one. When the president is sick, whether you like him or not, it’s hard not to keep checking the news. I certainly wish everyone who has contracted the virus, whether they are newsworthy or average Joes like me, a full and speedy recovery. Beyond that, it’s been a full week of getting back on schedule and trying to keep some of my projects moving forward while carving out some time for enjoying my friends and the weather.

It’s been a full week with my 2 year-old friend Mason who is really enjoying the leaves changing color and the Halloween decorations which have sprung up around the neighborhood. I think it’s fascinating that because he’s never really seen any of these things in the context of being scary, he looks at a dog skeleton as just a dog, hands coming from the ground as hands and giant spiders as, well, giant spiders which he likes (we saw our first daddy longlegs today in the woods and he thought it was hilarious). I guess he is demonstrating to me that fear is often a learned behavior, and this kid is pretty fearless. The weather has been so good we’ve been out almost all morning every morning which has been wonderful. We’ve been having some interesting discussions this week which I think are worth sharing here.

Since the acorns have been coming down, we’ve been picking up a pocket-full on the way to the creek so that we can throw them in when we get there. If I take two out of my pocket and hold them out to Mason, he will grab the first and throw it without looking while he’s already grabbing for the second one. I think many of us are guilty of this behavior in that we are always looking towards the next thing and are often unable to savor the experience that’s happening in the moment. If you enjoy throwing acorns in the water, focus on the acorn you have and the experience of throwing it and hearing the plunk in the stream and the ripples that come from it. Watch as it bobs in the current and makes its way downstream. Think about its course, watch it float away, listen to the leaves rustle overhead and feel the cool breeze of fall on your face. Then reach for the next acorn. If we’re just thinking about the next acorn and not the one we currently have in our hand, then what is the sense of bringing more than one?

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Snapshots: Covered Bridges of S.W. New Hampshire

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Snapshots: Covered Bridges of S.W. New Hampshire

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of traveling around southwestern New Hampshire to photograph these wonderful covered bridges. I’ve always had a thing for covered bridges, and these were no exception. Much like the lighthouses and Mail Pouch Barns I’ve featured in the past on this blog, covered bridges are such a beloved and photogenic part of the American landscape. Autumn had just begun when I was out taking these pictures, and was in varying stages depending on which bridge I was looking at, but it certainly was a beautiful day to be out there. I hope you enjoy these beautiful and historic covered bridges from southwestern New Hampshire.

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This Week on the Road - September 23rd-30th

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This Week on the Road - September 23rd-30th

Hello Everyone! Wow, it has been six months since I last published This Week on the Road. I can’t describe how great it was just to type those words. I wish I had been able to leave this week and just keep going, but alas it was just for this week. My folks and I drove up to New Hampshire last Wednesday to visit my brother and his family. The fall colors are coming in beautifully in New England and we had a wonderful visit. We got out and did a lot, and I was very happy to be checking out new places and taking photos in unfamiliar surroundings. It was a wonderful week on the road in New Hampshire.

Our decision to go was not made lightly. We’ve been keeping close to home and keeping our interactions to a minimum, maintaining our distance and wearing our masks. My folks aren’t as young as they once were and with my diabetes we’re all at heightened risk, not to mention the fact that I’m spending my days with a child who I simply cannot get sick. While my brother and his girlfriend are doing what they’re supposed to do as well, seeing them would bring more people into our safety web. But with winter and a second wave coming, New Hampshire being a state with things relatively in control and the looming election we decided that if we wanted to see them this year, this was probably the time. The fall colors and the ability to take some photos of somewhere further from home helped to seal the deal. We packed a lunch and made it a direct journey in both directions, followed best practices while we were there and hopefully managed to keep everyone safe and healthy. I’m glad we went.

The trip did help me see how difficult it would be to continue my actual long-term journey at this point in time. Many things remain closed or on limited hours, and while people in New Hampshire seemed generally compliant with safety standards I know that’s not the case for much of the country. While this week definitely tugged at my heart strings and whispered go in my ear, many of the things I would want to see remain closed and the thought of getting really sick while on the road and far from home doesn’t seem like a great idea. So for now I will have to be content with my week away and settle in here in D.C. for the winter. The short days and cold nights of winter on the road are pretty brutal anyway, and without a warm safe pub to tuck into, it would probably be a bit much.

We left on Wednesday and made good time, arriving at my brother’s house at around 3:30 in the afternoon. He and his girlfriend, Errin, have a wonderful home on a windy back road with a nice chunk of land and some room to breathe. I know maintaining it takes a lot of hard work, but they’ve really made a nice home for themselves and their family. After the long ride, we were happy to just settle in, have a few cold beers and catch up a little bit. It feels like a long time since we were there in December, but it all seemed very familiar as well.

Thursday we went for a visit to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire. It is a beautiful 20 acre garden full of interesting sculptures and beautiful plants and flowers. It took quite a while to meander through the many paths that wound around the property. Bedrock Gardens was quite a unique and special place and is probably phenomenal in spring when all the flowers are starting to bloom. It was very cool.

On Friday, we loaded my brother’s boat onto the trailer and set off for Lake Winnipesaukee in the central part of the state. Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire and is just over an hour north of my brother’s house.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 26

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 26

Hello Everyone, well this week officially marks the half-year point of being sheltered-in-place here in Washington D.C. This is definitely not what I had planned for my 2020, but it is what it is and I’m still grateful to be here all things considered. I have watched spring turn to summer, hung on through the long, humid summer days and now I am watching the temperatures drop and the leaves start to change. I’ve tried to keep myself and my folks active and busy the best I can and I’ve really enjoyed being able to read more, play some music, do some writing and learn more about the history of my hometown. I’ve made friends with a 2 year-old who shares my daytime adventures with me and traveled with my mom around the region to explore Civil War sites and local scenic byways and neighborhoods. I’ve tried hard to keep this blog going despite the fact that it’s supposed to be a travel blog which 2020 simply had other plans for. If you’re still reading and following along, I really appreciate you. Believe me when I say I hope that I can get back on the road sooner rather than later and continue my adventures around the country. There are a lot of unknowns in the future, even on the other side of this, but I’m excited and hopeful for what’s to come.

This week has been pretty quiet. There is definitely a chill in the air and nighttime temperatures have dipped near freezing. Mason and I continue our exploration of the woods near his house and have found several new-to-me trails to wander down. Now that it’s cooler I can’t have him splashing around in the water, so we spend more time walking and exploring and less time throwing things in the creek. He seems to learn and grow every day and we both continue to learn from each other. He definitely wears me out, and when he takes an afternoon nap, I take one too.

I’ve finished The Pirate Hunters book and enjoyed it so much I’m staying on that vein for a while as I picked up a book I had started many years ago called …and a Bottle of Rum. It’s a fun look at the history of rum from its origins in the Caribbean through to more modern times. I bought it when I worked as a kayak guide on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to have something to teach my adult participants, which was fun but I never got through to the end of it. I’ve got another book on pirates lined up for after this one as well before I shift gears to something else.

On Friday, we did our weekly basement party with a theme of Blues, Brews and Barbecues. We tapped into our home-brewed IPA which is finally ready to drink and we really enjoyed it…

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D.C.'s Oldest Homes - The Sewall-Belmont-Paul House

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D.C.'s Oldest Homes - The Sewall-Belmont-Paul House

In 1632, King Charles of England granted a charter for a huge tract of land in what was then the colony of Maryland to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord of Baltimore. Within that tract was a hill known as Jenkins Hill which today we know by its far more famous name: Capitol Hill. In 1663, lawyer George Thompson acquired 1800 acres from Lord Baltimore and leased the land to future Proprietary Governor of Maryland Thomas Notley for 1000 years at the rental rate of “40,000 pounds of tobacco and one pepper corn” per year. Notley called his plantation Cerne Abbey Manor.

Cerne Abbey Manor would remain in Thomas Notley’s family for several generations and eventually was inherited by his great-great-grandson Daniel Carroll. When Washington D.C. was established, Daniel Carroll ceded Jenkins Hill to the Federal Government, and later received part of that land back which he then leased to Robert Sewall. On that lot was a small one-room farmhouse which had been built perhaps as early as 1750. Sewall built a considerably larger house facing the newly designated B Street (now Constitution Ave), keeping the farmhouse as his kitchen. It is likely that this house was completed around 1800. The architect of the house is unknown, but there is some conjecture that the designer was Leonard Harbaugh, who we remember for his designs of Old North for Georgetown University, the old U.S. Treasury Building and Holy Trinity Church and who is buried in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery. Sewall had this house built as his “town house” but soon thereafter his uncle died and left him a large tobacco plantation in Southern Maryland called His Lordship’s Kindness. The fact that the manor house on that plantation was designed by Harbaugh lends some further credibility to his designing the Sewall House.

Because Sewall was busy sorting out his newly inherited plantation, the house was leased to Albert Gallatin who served as Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. A disproven rumor once existed that the Louisiana Purchase was signed in the house while Gallatin was in residence there, but it would certainly have been an important discussion around the dinner table, perhaps with Thomas Jefferson himself in attendance. Gallatin lived in the house from 1801 to 1813 and after he left, Sewall left his son, William, to watch the house, but it is unlikely that William ever lived there.

After the Battle of Bladensburg in the War of 1812, British troops marched towards Washington. It is believed that shots were fired from inside the Sewall House, marking the only American resistance to the invasion of the Capital. Whether shots were fired or not, the British did set fire to the house which lends credibility to the story because as we learned when discussing the Octagon House in this series it was not British policy to burn private residences. Regardless, the house did burn and Sewall rebuilt it in its current form soon after the war making some small changes to the original design. He applied for reimbursement for this work from the U.S. government, but his application was denied. Robert Sewall died in the house in 1820, leaving it to his wife and four daughters…

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 25

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 25

Hello Everyone, another week has come and gone as I continue to wait patiently for an end to the pandemic. We’re already halfway through September which is really hard for me to believe. Next week will be week 26 in this series, marking half a year since I turned my headlights towards home and chose to wait this pandemic out here in D.C. Some of that time has passed really slowly, and yet it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for six months at all. I’m still just trying to make the best of it. As always, I’m very grateful to my folks for having me and giving me a safe harbor through this storm. It’s not how I would have chosen to spend my 2020, but as the saying goes: life is what happens when you’re making other plans.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week with young Mason as we set out on our daily adventures into the neighborhood together. This week we’ve crossed mighty rivers (or maybe just meandering streams), faced off against fierce (decorative stone) lions and ventured deep into the heart of darkness (aka Glover Archbold Park). He’s added some letters to his knowledge base – “E” (for elephant) and “O” (for Ohio) and is getting closer to understanding how many three is. It’s truly special and remarkable to watch him grow and learn and discover and I think every day he learns something from me, and I learn something from him. It’s great when he sees a bumblebee or a butterfly and the way he points it out to me is like it’s the single most remarkable thing that’s ever existed. When he’s really enjoying something, he just coos which is one of the best sounds on earth. He loves big trucks and busses, and it’s fun for us when the bus drivers honk their horns and wave back to us. We continue to have a really good time together and every day is a new adventure.

Last Friday my folks and I once again retired to the basement for our weekly Forget-About-It Friday festivities. We started out this week with a brewing session as we had to get our Oktoberfest brewed if we want it ready to drink by October (which is fast approaching). Then we relaxed into a Renaissance Night in Sherwood Forrest with beer, roast turkey legs, breads, meats and cheeses. We listened to some great old music, played a fun game of Gluckhouse, and generally had a merry old time. It was another successful night.

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In Focus: Bryce Canyon National Park

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In Focus: Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the most striking and beautiful places in all of North America, and I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places on this continent in my 14 years as a cross-country tour guide. My very first visit to Bryce was back in May of 2000 and I had truly never seen anything like it in my life. It felt like I had arrived on some alien landscape. Unlike Grand Canyon, it seemed as though I could take in Bryce in one sweeping view, but yet my mind couldn’t comprehend how such a beautiful and fragile landscape could exist at all. It was truly striking. The awe I felt at that first breathtaking view out over the canyon has only grown with each subsequent visit, and there have been many in the intervening years although not as many recently as I would have liked. To hike among the Hoodoos, as the colorful spires are called, is the best way to experience the park and gain a better understanding of the scale of the formations. While beautiful at any time of day, the colors are most vivid at sunrise which is definitely the best time to visit the park. Be sure to bring your jacket though because at 8,000’ above sea level, Bryce is cold even in the middle of summer. In winter it can be downright brutal, but the snow makes an incredible contrast to the pink and orange spires. Bryce Canyon is one of my very favorite National Parks and is worth the drive to get there. You can get a good feel for the park with one full day to spend there, but I would definitely recommend an overnight stay so you can be there for sunrise. To find out more about Bryce Canyon National Park, visit the park’s website here. I hope you enjoy these photos I’ve taken over the years on my many trips to the park.

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